Tag Archives: Guyana Ecotourism

Amerindians – The Wai Wai

The Wai Wai is now an endangered Amerindian tribe in Guyana. In 2007, according to International Cry online website, there were only 240 Wai Wai left in Guyana.

Amerindian Tribes
The Wai Wai is one of nine indigenous Amerindian tribes in Guyana. The others include the Patamona, Arecuna, Macusi, Wapisiana, Carib, Warrau, Arawak and Akawaio.

Meaning
Wai Wai means “tapioca people” and they were given that name because of the enormous amount of the tapioca (cassava) they eat.

Early History
The Wai Wai people and its tribal territory were discovered by the famous explorer R. Schomburgk during his exploration of the province of Essequibo in 1837.

Religion
U.S. Protestant Missionaries established a permanent Christian Mission near the Wai Wai tribal area in the 1950s. The Paramount Chief of the Wai Wai and his tribe converted to Christianity by the end of the 1950s.

Location
The Wai Wai live in small remote villages in the southernmost tropical forest of Guyana. They migrated from Brazil in the early 19th century and their population increased to some 1,250. As the tribe expanded , so too did trade and marriage contracts. When the Protestant Mission was established, nearly all the Wai Wai relocated near to it. In the 1970s, due to the uprising in the Rupununi area and events that followed, there was massive re-migration of the Wai Wai back to Brazil. By 1989, there was only one major tribal area remaining.

Dialect
The Wai Wai dialect is similar to that of the Carib. The Umana Yana Amerindian structure in Kingston, Georgetown, is a Wai Wai word meaning “meeting place.”

Tribal Land
Their tribal land, to which they hold title, covers about some 2,300 square miles. The area is known as Konashen and includes the headwaters of the mighty Essequibo River.
The paramount Chief of the people is the Kayaritomo. The Medicine Man is called a Yaskomo. Continue reading →

MIKE CHARLES’ VIDEOS

“Mike Charles has been a helicopter pilot in Guyana for over 25 years.

He has created and released three (3) DVDs; (1) Guyana Yours to Discover, (2) Wild Guyana, and the most recent release (3) Pictures of Guyana which includes unique footage as recorded by Mike Charles and presented in spectacular, unscripted form.

This DVD highlights aspects of a magnificent country that has a low carbon footprint. It captures in Still Photography the quintessence of the 40 million hectares of intact rainforest of a country where the people and culture co-exist in harmony with nature and embracing the low carbon development strategy (LCDS) Guyana is implementing.

It includes over 800 pictures of Guyana and Twenty minutes of the Mashramani 2010 float parade for you added enjoyment. Mike Charles Production once again is taking Guyana to the living rooms of the World on DVD.

ah RUPUNUNI feeling – Video

See this video, and the collection of other videos he has produced on various subjects, at the link.< click left or on title below

‘Ah Rupununi Feeling’, is about life and landscape at a place on the northwestern shoulder of South America the size of Scotland, in the English speaking state of Guyana.

Stretching two hundred miles, it is rolling grasslands disappearing to the horizon from the foothills of the mountains.

It is a conundrum…a place where nothing is as it appears, and everything is as it has always been, with the mountains among the oldest in di worl!. It’s a landscape imbued with the magic of the Makusi… it’s life contending with the suffering soaked soils of a vast, resource rich region and it’s singular economic preoccupation with cow slaughter…moooooooooooooooooo

Guyanese Online Newsletter – October 2010 released

This issue is 18 pages, the largest ever published. It features a number of pages on the Amerindians of Guyana, September being their annual Heritage Month. The “First Peoples of Guyana” have been here for over 10.000 years.

The October Newsletter contains positive Guyana News; Regional News; Tourism; and three pages of news from various Guyanese Associations. It also has three pages featuring Guyanese Arts and Culture and four pages on the history and related information on the Amerindians.

We hope that you enjoy this edition of our newsletter. Please forward it to your family, friends and anyone interested in Guyanese news and culture.

This issue is 18 pages, the largest ever published. It features a number of pages on the Amerindians of Guyana, September being their annual Heritage Month. The “First Peoples of Guyana” have been here for over 10.000 years.

The October Newsletter contains positive Guyana News; Regional News; Tourism; and three pages of news from various Guyanese Associations. It also has three pages featuring Guyanese Arts and Culture and four pages on the history and related information on the Amerindians.

We hope that you enjoy this edition of our newsletter. Please forward it to your family, friends and anyone interested in Guyanese news and culture.